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Associates of the Department of Condensed Matter Physics Tina Arh, Matej Pregelj, pHD, and prof. Andrej Zorko pHD, discovered the first realization of a quantum spin liquid on a Ising triangular-lattice antiferromagnet. They performed a large scale experimental study in collaboration with the researchers from the Slovenian Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Mechanics as well as researchers from India, Great Britain, France and the USA. The results were published in Nature Materials in the article The Ising triangular-lattice antiferromagnet neodymium heptatantalate as a quantum spin liquid candidate. In addition to being a significant scientific discovery, this discovery also has an important potential for the latest quantum technologies, as spin liquids are seen as one of the most perspective platforms in quantum computing.

Doc. dr. Matjaž Humar from the Department of Condensed Matter Physics at Jožef Stefan Institute, and researchers from UK, USA and Japan have published an article titled Whispering-gallery-mode sensors for biological and physical sensing in Nature Reviews Methods Primers. In the paper the authors introduce whispering-gallery-mode microcavities in different geometries, such as microspheres, microtoroids, microcapillaries and microrings. Whispering-gallery-mode microcavities are miniature micro-interferometers that use the multiple-cavity passes of light for very sensitive measurements at the microscale and nanoscale, including single-molecule and ion measurements. The authors describe sensing mechanisms, including mode splitting and resonance shift, and optomechanical and optoplasmonic signal transductions. Applications and experimental results cover in-vivo and single-molecule sensing, gyroscopes and microcavity quantum electrodynamics.